jojoyee was definitely helpful, but it would make more sense in 2003 than in 2008.

When we're talking about a half-life of 60,000 hours we're talking 8 hours a day for 20 years until the display is at half-brightness. The average TV is on 4 hours a day, so we're talking 40 years. Regardless of how much it costs to replace the light engine, by the time you need to replace the light element of an LCD you might as well buy that new $50 TV in 2035.

The high-altitude issue only matters for people living in Colorado for the most part. And most manufacturers have high-altitude sets, except now they've defeated the need for nigh-altitude sets and most every plasma is fine at high altitudes.

The LCD technology is inherently limited because of the nature of the color crystals. These open and close to pass light. The fastest panels open at 2ms, and it takes another 2ms to close. The human eye can notice 4ms changes, so the very best LCD displays will always have motion blur. This is because these crystals open and close to pass light. Plasma pixels are activated at the speed of light, so there is no motion blur.